Child Behind The Mask
by Mrs. Tara Yuy Maxwell
Summary: Is Duo really the cheerful optimist he seems to be? Or is there more to it? Will the other pilots even notice when he goes blind? 1x2?;2x5?;1x2x5? Choose
1. The Maxwell Church Tragedy

**Title:** Child Behind The Mask

**Author:** Mrs. Tara Yuy Maxwell

**Disclaimer:** No, I do own Gundam Wing…. :frowns: Hey, Duo! There's a typo in the cards you're holding! It's supposed to say, "No, I do NOT own Gundam Wing!"

**Pairings:** 3x4; 1x2x1?(maybe?); 5x2x5(maybe?) 1x2x5 (maybe?)

**Summery:** _Who is Duo really? Is he really the cheerful optimist that he always seems to be? Or is there more to it? To him? What will he do when he goes blind (maybe temporarily)? Will the other pilots even notice? Or are they to wrapped up in themselves to care?_

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**Child Behind The Mask**

**By Mrs. Tara Yuy Maxwell**

**Prologue**

**The Maxwell Church Tragedy**

"_I try to breathe_

_Memories overtaking me_

_I try to face them but_

_The thought is to much to concede..." _

Fade by Staind

He was drowning.

He was drowning and he couldn't escape. He clawed viciously at his throat, trying in vain to ease the vise that was continuously tightening around his neck, strangling, suffocating him.

From his lips he uttered a small croaking cough, merging with his hoarse exhale to form a desperate, high-pitched keen. His vision was fuzzy, tiny black dots appearing before him and shock ensnaring his mind.

Abruptly, his body became slack. He was tired, so very tired. He felt his body being pulled limply towards a black vortex of darkness. Before he was engulfed in the empty oblivion, he managed a loud, choked out, agonizing wail.

Duo's eyes snapped open, wild and panicked. His hair, which he was so proud of, was damp with sweat and entangled around his arms. His pale body was sweaty and shaking, his legs were entwined in the sheets of his small bed. His chest heaved, painfully pulling in shallow gasps of the much-needed oxygen.

'Why?' he thought. 'Why this nightmare? Why now, after all this time?'

He squeezed his eyes closed when he heard loud, angry footsteps coming his way. He had barely managed to pull himself up with his horribly trembling arms before the door was flung open and an angry face peered in at him. Wait scratch that, there were four faces looking at him; two blank, one angry, and one concerned.

Duo stared at them for a few moments with glazed, haunted eyes. "H-hey…" his eyes closed in humiliation at his inability to speak as he forced back the urge to sob. "Hey guys!" He said in his usual cheerful tone, forcing an apologetic grin to his face. It was almost believable, that is if you didn't notice that the boy's limbs had not desisted in their trembling.

Wufei didn't notice. Instead his eyes flashed with rage. _'So, this had all been a prank, had it?'_ he thought furiously. He had **almost** been convinced that there was more to the entity called Duo than he had originally thought.. Wufei knew from experience that there was no way to recover that quickly from a nightmare. "Maxwell, you are **not** the honorable person I thought you were. You are **only** a jester who delights in his comrade's misery. I have lost my respect for you," he growled heatedly before turning on his heal and stalking out of the room. He did not notice that Duo had paled to a ghastly white, agony blazing in his eyes as his trembling intensified by two-fold.

Trowa, however, did and his best friend Quatre didn't miss it either. His space heart ached terribly as he felt only a third of the suffering Duo was going through. After all, to be told such harsh words by the one you respected the most was not a light blow. "Duo," he murmured quietly, waiting for the miserable amethyst orbs to catch his gaze. Behind him he could feel the tension Wufei's exit had provoked from Trowa and Heero.

"Duo," Heero interrupted. He too, was irritated with the boy for jolting him out of his sleep with such a heart-stopping wail. "Don't endanger the mission," he said simply before he too left.

The properly scolded pilot sat on the bed, his head slightly tipped back as he clenched his eyes against the burning tears that threatened to pour down his face. Once he felt that he had control over them, he turned his dim eyes to the doorway to await more berating. He was surprised to find that Quatre now loomed over him, his sympathetic eyes gazing down at him. "Oh Duo," he murmured softly, reaching down and pulling the stunned pilot into a comforting hug.

Duo tensed, eyes wide with alarm. A few moments went by before he realized that this was Quatre, his best friend. Quatre would **never** get upset with anyone for having a nightmare-and he **knew **that Duo had had one, too. His space heart left him with no doubt in mind. Said space heart allowed him know, when something was wrong; it left him sensitive to the emotions of others.

Slowly Duo relaxed in the embrace, drawing comfort for his weary mind when it suddenly hit him. This was the first time he held been held since Sister Helen. He flinched when the same overwhelming grief gripped his heart as it did every time he thought about her.

Blindly, Duo felt his eyes wandering over to Trowa who still stood hesitantly in the doorway. After a moment or two of brief indecision he padded over across the room towards the shaken teen, sitting down next to the blonde boy on the bed. Awkwardly, he rested a consoling hand on his knee, not saying anything but letting Duo know he was there.

Still, Duo fought his tears, not allowing the burning enemies to slip past his boarders into unknown territory. For a while, the only sound that resonated through the room was that of Duo's harsh breathing.

Abruptly, Duo pulled himself from the calming hold, a false happiness evident in his eyes. He stretched his lips up into and achingly painful smile and mumbled gratefully, "Nightmares, you know? I feel better now…thanks."

Quatre looked at him worriedly, wondering how truthful the boy was being with him. Unbidden, the words by which Duo lived by held his mind captive, "I may run and I may hid but I **never** tell a lie."

The blonde stood up with a sad smile, not wishing to argue with the teen, "If you say so…" Trowa pulled himself to his feet as well, giving Duo a penetrating stare that felt to him as though the banged brunette were looking into his soul.

Duo gave them an encouraging nod, forcing a familiar spark back into his eyes _'It wasn't a lie,'_ he told himself. _'I **do** feel better, even if it is only a little.'_

After ushering them out of the room, Duo sat down on the bed. His legs were still quivering, but it had had mostly subsided.

That dream, he hadn't had it in such a long time. So why was it coming back? Perhaps it had been brought on because his depression was worsening. Or maybe it was because his "Happy Pills" (as he liked to call them) were no longer having an effect on him.

"Oh man," he moaned aloud. _'Why did it have to be that nightmare? I don't have the time for stupid nightmares, we have a war to win!'_

Closing his eyes and taking a shaky breath, Duo remembered the events of the dream.

_**FLASHBACK to A.C. 187; Colony L2**_

"Duo! You have got to stop doing this!" came the cross shout of a high-pitched voice.

Duo winced, _'I didn't mean to…he just made me so angry.'_ he told himself. He turned around and gave Sister Helen a guilty, but somewhat innocent look.

The nun ignored and the twinge it brought to her heart. "I mean it Duo, that's the fourth kid you've sent to the hospital in two months."

Duo eyed the ground as though it were the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. "B-but" he stuttered, wetting his lips nervously. "But he said I smelled like a sewer!" he explained, his voice thick with unshed tears. A mantra of 'Boys don't cry!' running through his head.

Sister Helen's face softened and she tenderly enfolded Duo into her arms, stroking her fingers through his bangs. "Duo," she murmured affectionately, "you have nothing to be ashamed of and you **don't** smell like a sewer."

Duo glanced up at her, hope lighting his face. "Really!"

The nun smiled, "Really. Just because you live with Father Maxwell and me doesn't mean that you are different than anybody else. When the intimidators began to taunt you, you have only to ignore them enough and they'll leave you alone."

The orphan nodded and took her hand, walking towards the Maxwell Church. "Let's go home."

**A Year Later; A.C. 188; Colony L2**

After his discussion with Sister Helen, Duo followed her advice and soon had no trouble with other kids. Although, it wouldn't have mattered if he did, there were much more important things on everyone's mind, namely the group of rebels that had took refuge in the church a few days prior.

"Ugh, Duo, why do you insist on having such long hair? Why won't you let me cut it?" Sister Helen groaned in annoyance as she "tried" to untangle yet another rats nest.

Duo clutched at his thick mass of chestnut brown hair protectively. "'Cause Solo said it was pretty," he told her.

Sister Helen furrowed her brow as she tried to figure out if she knew anyone with that name. "Solo?"

"Mm-hmm." Duo's legs swung back and fourth from the stool he was seated upon. "Solo's my best friend!"

"Oh, is he a friend from school?" she inquired of the nine-year-old boy already knowing the answer. After all, he hadn't allowed her to cut his hair when she had first met him and that was before he even started going to school.

Duo scrunched up his nose in disgust, "School? No, everyone at my school hates me—even the teachers, I think. Solo rescued me when I was only a kid."

Sister Helen laughed, "Duo, you still **are** a kid!"

He gave her a mock glare and resumed his story, "These guys were after me 'cause I had stolen a piece of fruit and I was trying to get away unscathed. I didn't have any such luck because they cornered me not too long after. They began to beat me when Solo stepped out of the shadows and saved me. He was amazing… "What's your name, little one?" he implored of me when I cowered from him.

'I told him I didn't have a name and he suggested that he give me one. I immediately agreed. He looked me up and down for a moment before he told me that since his name, Solo, meant one that he would call me Duo, because there were two of us. Not too long after he took me to his hideout—and old abandoned warehouse—where there were a bunch of other orphans. I soon became a member of his "family" and began to live with them." Duo paused at the end of the sentence to take a deep breath while simultaneously wringing his fingers anxiously.

"One day…one day Solo got sick…and he never woke up. He died of the plague. I became the new leader then, and not too long after that I ran into Father Maxwell," he looked at her sorrowfully, no doubt thinking about his friend and the legacy he had left behind.

Sister Helen watched him with wet eyes, "I'm sorry Duo."

"It's okay…are you done yet? I **need** to ask Father Maxwell something important," he told her impatiently.

Sister Helen nodded, "Yeah, just let me braid it for you." She did so, evenly parting his chestnut mane and neatly braiding his hair into a tight braid. "There," she approved a minute later, satisfied with her work.

Duo gave her a grateful smile and hopped down from the stool, running from the room to Father Maxwell's office. He didn't pause to knock when he reached his door, instead he choose to simply throw the door open and charge into the room. He had an enormous grin on his beaming face, his amethyst eyes gleaming and his priest garb ruffled. "Father Maxwell! I have a question for you!"

The man behind the desk scrutinized the child he thought of as a son and smiled softly, "Ask away."

"Duo!" It seemed that Sister Helen had finally caught up with him, "It's rude to enter a room without permission," she scolded lightly.

"It's alright, Sister," Father Maxwell admonished, ignoring her amused retort of "You spoil him!"

Duo glanced around apprehensively, pondering on whether or not he should satisfy his curiosity. "Um, Father, is god real?"

There was a moment of stunned silence before Father Maxwell answered swiftly, "Of course there is, Dear Child. Whatever would make you think that he wasn't real?"

Duo bit his lip for a second before muttering almost inaudibly, "But if there is a God, why isn't he stopping the war? Why does he let people die? Why does he let there be more orphans like me? Doesn't he love us anymore?"

"Duo," the priest gave an odd laugh, "humans started the war, and what humans begin, humans must finish. God will not interfere, Duo, because he wants us to do it. God loves us enough to give us free will, the decision to make our own choices. But with every choice there is a consequence, we made the choice to be violent and the war is our consequence."

"Well, I only believe in Shinigami, the god of Death," Duo stated after a few thoughtful moments.

Sister Helen gaped at him, "You refuse to believe in God, and yet you believe in the god of Death! Where's the sense in that?"

"Well, I've seen lots of dead people but I've never seen any miracles," he rationalized aloud.

Father Maxwell chuckled softly, "Oh dear, it's hard to argue with you."

A few hours later found Duo in the center of a huge commotion. It seemed that Father Maxwell and Sister Helen had upset the rebels by preaching to them about peace.

The commander, Jiro, tried to ignore them as he scowled to his troops, "We've **got** to capture the base at G2 no matter what. It's the only option we have left!" he roared, "If we can get just one mobile suit, freedom will be ours!"

"Haven't we had enough of this…?" Father Maxwell interrupted.

"What did you say!"

"Heero Yuy once said…"We, the people of the colonies, didn't come to live in space so we could fight." …We must not fight, no matter what happens," the frail, elderly man said calmly.

"I **dare** you to say that again!" Jiro growled, taking a step forward menacingly.

Father Maxwell was not impressed, "I'll say it as many times as you like. We must not fight."

The man leapt at him, his fist colliding with the brittle frame of Father Maxwell. "Shut up!"

"Hey!" Duo cried out in alarm, taking a step forward.

Sister Helen threw herself in front of the unconscious priest protectively and pleaded desperately, "No more! Please, stop it!"

This action only seemed to infuriate the rebel group more. A female soldier named Tani slapped her maliciously across the face. Sister Helen stumbled back, tripping over Father Maxwell's comatose body and falling to the floor. "Shut up! You're confusing people with all this worthless talk of peace! We have to have total solidarity."

"Maybe they are Alliance spies," suggested one of the faceless rebels.

"It's possible," Tani dryly quipped, obviously doubting it was true.

"Well, shall we force them to confess their sins?" A man with a mustache questioned mockingly.

Duo couldn't take it anymore, he stepped forward, "Wait! All you want is a mobile suit, ne? I'll go and steal one for you, but in return I want you all out of here! This is a church, it's supposed to be a peaceful place!"

Jiro let of a snort of amusement, "Pft, the street-rat is talking nonsense."

Duo couldn't help but give them a harsh, reproachful scowl, "I may run and hide, but I never tell lies…like you guys do!" he snarled.

"Say what?" the general hissed irately.

"Duo!" Sister Helen cried out, "Please don't do it!"

"You better keep your promise," Duo spat at the radicals before he turned and hurried out the door.

Not to long later the orphan arrived at the nearest Alliance base. Easily, he scaled the ten-foot, barbed wire fence. Upon reaching the top he fearlessly jump down, wincing as the impact painfully jarred his bones. Two nearby guards trained their guns of his small figure instantly and bellowed, "Stop or we'll shoot!"

The only comeback they received was a snide, "If you want to shoot someone so much, shoot each other!"

One of the soldiers took aim and began to let off some at the boy with his machine gun. Dimly, Duo heard the second one stutter, "S-stop! He's only a kid!" as he dodged the bullets.

Using this opportunity, he pivoted to the right and discreetly hid underneath a large truck. Listening to their confused voice, Duo smirked and peered up at them from beneath the vehicle.

"Where'd he go!"

"I don't know, let's go check over there."

Once they were out of sight he crawled out from under the automobile and quickly ran to the nearest warehouse stocked with mobile suits. Unfortunately, he was sighted trying to hijack a truck with the humanoid machine already loaded on it. By the time they began firing at him he was already speeding off towards the Maxwell Church.

The site that greeted him when he returned proudly with the mobile suit was one that would haunt him till he died. The church lay in ruins; the corpses of men, woman, and even children were scattered around on the ground. Some of the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition. They made Duo nauseous just by glancing at the scorched flesh. A gasp fell from Duo's lips as he discovered the mangled body of Sister Helen. "Si-sister Helen!"

"D…Duo," her eyes fluttered once before opening and resting on him. "I'm so happy…you're safe."

"Sister!" Duo knelt next to her and noticed that it was the first time he'd every seen her hair. It was a soft dirty blonde; the bottom of he golden locks were singed from the fire and her usually clear blue eyes were clouded with pain.

"Don't make Father Maxwell and I worry like that…Father was worried…about you…even at the end…"

"I-I'll go find a doctor!"

"Th-the Alliance came…and attacked. But we…couldn't leave…the church."

"W…was it my fault! Did they do this because I stole a mobile suit from them?" he urgently begged for an answer forcing back tears of grief. _'Boys don't cry, that's what Solo said!'_

"Father was s-so noble…H-he kept…preaching peace…" she told Duo, not seeming to have heard his earlier questions.

"That's not noble, it's stupid!" he sobbed. "What's the point if he's dead!"

"Duo…" Sister Helen smiled at him, her eyes growing dim. She painstakingly lifted a trembling hand out to brush against his cheek. "M-may you…have God's…blessing…"

There was a moment of silence as the hand fell lifelessly to the ground. Sister Helen was dead.

Duo fell back, staring transfixed at the body of his "mother" in front of him. _'This isn't happening!'_ he thought wildly, _'It couldn't be true…it couldn't!' _He felt his lungs began to itch and burn as the need for oxygen became great. Still he found himself unable to look away, to draw a gasp of air into his aching body.

His respiratory system began to scream in protest when suddenly he could breath. Then came his agonized wail, it was the last time he allowed himself to cry.

**END FLASHBACK**

Shaking himself out of his memories, he found that his body was tremulous. Standing up on wobbly legs he idly glanced at the clock. 3:07 A.M. No wonder the other pilots had been so angry with him.

Dragging the pillow off his bed, he staggered over to his closet and opened the door. Awkwardly, he stepped inside the dark, crammed space, pulling the door shut behind him. Ever since Professor G had given him training to withstand torture of any kind, he'd find himself taking refuge in the place you'd least expect to find a claustrophobic. When he was disobedient during his training or he if failed a mission, Professor G would lock him inside "the room." And there he would stay from anywhere between two and three days. "The Room" was three feet wide and three feet high.

Closing his eyes, Duo cleared his mind of these grievous thoughts and tried concentrating on something else…something happy. Five minutes later, Duo fell asleep curled up in a fetal position, his arms wrapped around the pillow soothing. He was leaning against the wall when his breathing finally evened out a few minutes later.

For the rest of the night he dreamt of nothing.

_To Be Continued..._

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**Authors Note:** Yeah, I know. No yaoi or shounen-ai hints yet….Sorry. On the good side there WILL be shounen-ai in the next chapter that WILL lead to yaoi. Unfortunely, I am currently unable to decide on a pair! 

So, I leave the choice up to you, my wonderful reviewers. Do you want 1x2(Heero and Duo), 5x2(Wufei and Duo), or 1x2x5(Heero, Duo, and Wufei)? Whatever you decide, I'll do. In your reviews tell me what you want, I'll give the poll a week and in an authors note I'll announce the winner. By the way, which ever pairing gets the most votes is the pairing that will win.


	2. The Incident

**Title:** Child Behind The Mask

**Author:** Mrs. Tara Yuy Maxwell

**Disclaimer:** Do I own Gundam Wing? Hell yes! After all, I **AM** dreaming, so why the hell not? And-wait! What the hell do you mean I'm not dreaming! Shit! I've come back to reality already! No. No, I guess I don't own Gundam Wing. BUT! I will one day, just you wait!

**Pairings:** 3x4; ((Well, here's what I got for the votes of the pairings!There were10 votes for1X2; there were10 votes for 1X2X5; and there were2 votes for 2X5. That means the poll is still up untilI update the next chapter and tell you who breaks the tie! Keep reviewing to get the pairings you want!))

**Summery:** _Who is Duo really? Is he really the cheerful optimist that he always seems to be? Or is there more to it? To him? What will he do when he goes blind (maybe temporarily)? Will the other pilots even notice? Or are they to wrapped up in themselves to care?_

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**Child Behind The Mask**

**By Mrs. Tara Yuy Maxwell**

**Chapter One**

**The Incident**

"_Good morning day_

_Sorry I'm not there_

_But all my favorite friends_

_Vanished in the air_

_It's hard to fly when you can't even run_

_Once I had the world, but now I have no one._"

Drown by Three Days Grace

Duo woke up a few hours later that morning, curled in the same position in which he had slept. The first thing he became acutely aware of was the blazing migraine that resided just behind his eyebrows and eyes. He yawned sleepily against the fluffy pillow that was wrapped within the comfortable embrace of his arms while he used his right hand to open the closet door. Crawling out with the pillow still burrowed to his chest, Duo couldn't help but wince when the warm rays of the sun pierced into his still sensitive eyes.

The Gundam pilot 02 stood up, stretched and made his way to the dresser before pulling out the day's clothing. A black shirt and pants, the usual. With his garments in his hands, Duo carefully made his way to the bathroom taking care that no one saw him in such a state along the way.

He gave a silent prayer of thanks to Shinigami when he arrived without incident. After locking the door, Duo stumbled over to the mirror to blearily check his face for any signs of last night. His eyes were still pink and swollen and he had horrible bags under his eyes. His complexion was deathly pale and his cheekbones were more prominent. It looked like someone had taken his skin and stretched them tautly over his face. In short, he looked like shit.

The braided man cursed himself and his lack of control. Boys don't cry! He softly scoffed and dropped his clothes before stepping into the shower.

Duo closed his eyes and sighed as the hot water streamed over his sore muscles. The water felt good and it soothed the knots and aches in his body. It also helped to rid him of the after affects of last nights nightmare.

He gazed down at his body and couldn't help the sneer that over took his lips. His body was so weak and scrawny when compared to Heero or Wufei's muscular bodies. It disgusted him. His form was practically embedded with battle scars. There was no way anyone would ever want him when he had a body like this!

Trying to relieve his mind from the such a disagreeable subject, Duo bathed his face in warm water and began to roughly scrub his body clean. He washed his hair several times with multiple hair products. His hair had to look good. After all, it was the best quality about him. It was the only thing he was proud of. He had had it for as long as he could remember and knew that he would be absolutely lost without it. If he were to ever lose it, he would never be able to maintain and stay the same person he was now.

A half an hour later Duo stepped out of the shower and wiped the condensation off of the steamed mirror. As he once again studied himself, he found that his skin looked healthier and his swollen eyes were not half as noticeable as they had been before. Slightly more pleased with himself, Duo pulled on a pair of pants and gently began to towel dry his hair.

When his chestnut strands were no longer dripping water, he started to patiently comb the thick mass. Said hair was a comforting heavy weight that he long ago found made him feel safe. He supposed it was like a toddler with his safety blanket. The motions of combing his hair was soothing and Duo was soon a puddle of goo that had melted up against the wall. His hair had always been a hot spot of his.

It took awhile, but eventually he had brushed the tangled rough mass of knots into a silky velvet. He easily separated his hair into three pieces and began to tightly braid it with years of expertise.

Five minutes later when Duo was satisfied that his hair had been properly bound together, he tied of the end off with a rubber band. A wave of security flowed through him when the damp and heavy braid rested against his back.

Pulling on his joker's mask, Duo hurriedly cleaned up the mess in the bathroom and rushed downstairs for breakfast. With a large goofy grin in place, he burst into the kitchen and began to babble about nothing in particular. As was usual, they all ignored him. Heero gave Duo his customary glare of death, Quatre 'mm-hmmed' without really paying attention, Trowa ignored him completely, and Wufei bluntly told him to 'shut the hell up.'

All in all it was a usual morning.

Quatre dazedly placed a bowl of slightly burnt pancakes in front of him that positively oozed with syrup. Duo blinked. Well, that was odd. Quatre NEVER burnt the food. Something serious must have been on his mind for him to have been too preoccupied to pay attention to the food. Nobody commented on it.

Not even Duo. Instead he chose to continue with usual morning routine and senselessly babble about nothing until Wufei could take it not longer and began to threaten to cut off his braid with his katana. That would shut the braided boy up immediately.

Just when Duo was beginning to relax and think the boys had simply chosen to forget last night's incident, Wufei opened his mouth and fairly grunted at him, "Just where did you go last night, Maxwell? I checked on you when I woke this morning and you weren't in your room."

All eyes flew to him.

Duo stiffened. He needed to quickly think up an excuse that wasn't a lie but wasn't quite the truth either. I mean, he couldn't very well go tell them that he had decided to sleep in the closet now could he? "Well, I WAS in my room...I just--"

Fortunately for Duo, the alarm on Heero's watch rang signifying a mission had been sent. Heero instantly stood up and stalked out of the kitchen and into the living room. He opened his laptop, booted it up, and read the email containing the necessary information.

The other pilots followed Heero into the room, curious as to who would be going. "It's for Duo," he informed them with a look that positively screamed, "Shoo!" They scattered.

Once the others had left, he trained his icy eyes on Duo. "Your mission is to gather all the blueprints on a new mobile suit they are creating. Afterwards you are to destroy the OZ military base located directly 63 miles north and 15 west at Garfield's Assembly of God. (1) You were chosen to perform for this mission because of you have past experiences with churches."

Duo simply stood there stunned and horrified beyond belief. They wanted him to blow up a church? A fucking church! "But..."

"That is your mission, Maxwell. Don't screw it up!" With a snap Heero shut his laptop and stalked away leaving no room for complaints.

"Shit!" Duo muttered helplessly, trying to stop the painful liquid from welling in his eyes. 'Boys don't cry. Boys don't cry!'

Duo stood in front of Garfield's Assembly of God mournfully. The church was old, but also tall and elegant. It reminded him so much of the Church he had grown up in. For a moment, he didn't know whether or not he would be able to do it, but he had no choice in the matter. Either he blew it up or they blew him up.

His black clothes melded into the night and left him with the perfect camouflage. Cautiously, Duo crept over to the door and picked the lock. He easily got inside and quickly he began to make his rounds. After checking out the building Duo soon found the mainframe. He turned it on and began to hack into the system. He was good at this and falling into such a familiar habit helped him to keep his calm. It only took a few minutes to get where he needed to be.

Sighing in relief, Duo inserted a disc and began to upload all the needed information on to it.

Now that he had time to think about it, Duo could tell something was off. He didn't know quite what it was, but something just wasn't right. It was to easy, to simple. He glanced at the screen, 61 percent.

Argh! Why did it have to take so damn long! Paranoid, Duo glanced around the room and his feelings of unease deepened.

91 percent.

"Come on, come on...yes!" he whispered gleefully as he grabbed the disc and shoved it in his pocket. Just as he did so, the lights above him began to flash red and a siren wailed.

Shit, it was an ambush!

Guards flooded the building leaving him no choice but to shoot all in his way. Duo hightailed out of the church, checking his pocket to make sure the disc was still intact. It was. Things seemed to be looking good for Duo as he successfully made his way to Deathsycthe Hell without encountering a single enemy.

He jumped up into the cockpit and just as he turned the Gundam on, mobile suits began to appear all around him. "SHIT!" They flew for him, hitting right and left. "All who block Shinigami path will not be spared. He will send you straight to hell!" This said, Duo grabbed his thermal scythe and began to destroy all who came at him.

But there were to many, he wouldn't be able to make it out of here alive if he tried to destroy all of them. Turning, he locked onto his target, the church, and readied the missile. He swallowed thickly as he gazed at the church, his finger trembling above the button. He couldn't press it, he couldn't!

He didn't need to. Duo was hit so hard from behind that he was thrown forward his head cracking loudly against metal of the suit. As a result, his fingers pressed the button and the missile flew...right into the church which exploded in a crackle of sparks. "NOOOOO!" the scream tore from his throat and he could only watch with horror as the scene from so long ago was once again played in front of him.

Tears dripped off his chin and he spun around in a malicious rage. He quickly spotted a nearby targets and released his fury onto all close by. When he came to his senses, all he could see before him was carnage. A horrible carnage unlike he had ever seen before. He was dimly aware of a warm stickiness leaking from his forehead into his stinging eyes.

Duo's chest heaved as he surveyed the area, he was the only one left. The church had long since stopped burning and was now a pile of rubble before him. It also looked as though he had begun hacking into some innocent trees during his madness.

With wide dazed eyes, Duo fled the scene, seeking refuge at the safe house. Along the way, he offhandedly noticed the dimming of his vision and shook his head to clear it. This trick worked for several seconds before growing worse. He made it back to the house just before it got so bad that he was unable pilot Deathsycthe Hell.

Stumbling into his safe haven, Duo dropped the disk on the kitchen table before stumbling up the stairs and into his room. He didn't quite make it to the bed before his vision gave. He ended up tripping on a pile of clothes on the floor and landing conveniently onto his bed, face first. He was asleep seconds after his exhausted body hit the mattress.

_To Be Continued..._

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**Authors Note:**

Wahhh! I'm sorry it's taken me almost a year to update! _:ducks rotten fruit as they fly past:_ I was having a lot of problems at home, my best friends were moving away, I was starting a new school, I had two surgeries, I had a bit of a mental breakdown, AND a lot of other shit was going down. My mind was simply not in the state of mind to do anything with this story. Every time I tried (and believe me I tried) I ended up completely destroying the story. I tried to start Chapter One so many different ways since it's not funny. I'm not even satisfied with this chapter, that's why it's so short! Please be happy that I decided to update at all. I had honestly almost given up on this piece.

You can probably tell the end was rushed. This is because my muse was dying quickly and I KNEW that if I didn't finish it then, I never would. Please be aware that I will revise this and make it longer soon. I promise.

I would, however, like to thank each and every one of you who reviewed. It was because of your reviews that I forced myself to pick up a pencil again and continue this story. And that in itself was a very hard thing to do, especially since I was in a slump and writer's block was keeping me company.

Another thing, I desperately need a beta! And for more reasons then grammar and spelling errors! If I had a nice and strict beta they could force me to write and update more often then I am! If you want to become my beta (and I really hope one of you out there does) go to my profile for more info!

Oh! And please don't forget to check out my web pages. Yes, I have **WEBPAGES**! They're not all up to date and some are under construction but! they are getting there. Thanks for being such a great reader. Oh, and don't forget to review! Remember, the more you review the more likely I am to not only continue this story, but to also update quicker. Just click the little button and I will be very much obliged!

1) Okay, I made this name up off of the top of my head. If there really is such a church out their (and I truthfully wouldn't be surprised if their was) I just wanted everyone to know I was not trying pinpoint and pick on the church in question.


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